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Wednesday, 18 March 2015
That old serpent
We were just talking last month about how the fantasy adventure gamebook has evolved into (among other things) CRPGs, so no need to go into all that again. This is Inkle's latest gamebook app in the Sorcery series, and it's interesting that 80 Days seems to have steered them more towards the go-anywhere open world gameplay of Fabled Lands.
Good thing too, though I'll admit to a heartsink when I saw a piece of simulated text-on-paper flip up onto the screen - only because the rest of it looks so good, particularly Mike Schley's maps, that those old connections to gamebooks' past seem as out of place as wisdom teeth or a burst appendix. (I know, I know - text is inexpensive; I'm not faulting Inkle for using it, just saying that the rest of their banquet looks so appetizing that the paper napkins are bound to come as a slight disappointment.)
What particularly impresses me is that all this is built on the foundations of Inklewriter, a markup language, rather than the object-oriented database structure you'd use in a CRPG. But that's the bit of the iceberg you don't see. The important thing is that Sorcery 3 is here, it looks great, and if Games Workshop style goblin-bashing is what floats your boat, you're going to be spending the next few months in Analand. (Don't look at me; it's what Steve Jackson called it.)
I've only played the second and I only got as far as "the city port of traps". What's the point of building a world and then giving the locations working title names? That's killed the fantasy right there.
ReplyDeleteIt speaks to a wider problem with Inkle and also Tinman (both of whose offerings I have tried after seeing recommendations on this blog); for both the writing is generally god-awful.
I think that's probably in the original Steve Jackson books. I'm not defending it - heaven knows, I'd rather watch paint dry than read the sub-D&D fantasy that is FF - but Tin Man and Inkle are just giving the fans what they want.
DeleteThe city is called Khare, and is called the city port of traps because it's a city, a port (on the Jabaji river) and is full of traps because of the lawlessness and ne'er-do-wells.
DeleteThe Inkle Sorcery books are interesting adaptations. The first one is pretty close to the gamebook. The religion system has changed, and there aren't any dice, but it's pretty close. There ARE some rather cool sections and pathways that weren't in the original.
DeleteThe second Sorcery! is MUCH more expansive than the original gamebook. There are sub-plots and mysteries galore to explore and unravel. The original book was only 511 paragraphs, and that includes spell failures. Inkle Sorcery 2 is apparently 300,000 words (the same size as A Game of Thrones), so by my eye about 5 or 6 times more text :)
I hope they put more effort into the writing for this new game. I played through number two a bit, and in general the writing really was bad, much worse than the book which I quite enjoyed. But it did introduce me to gamebooks, and hours of fun collecting and playing them. Makes me wonder how important the quality of writing you find in video games and books is to people these days.
ReplyDeleteI am pretty sure that Jon Ingold cares about good writing, Alex. He added some very nice touches to my text in the Down Among the Dead Men app, for example, and the prose in his own interactive novels is top quality. I can't speak for Sorcery 2 as I haven't played much of it, but look at the quality of writing in 80 Days. Meg Jayanth, 80 Days' author, has also written for Fallen London, and that features some of the most elegant prose you're going to find this side of Truman Capote.
DeleteThese look really good, and I'd definitely be up for them. Does anyone know if they can be obtained as an apk (like the Humble Bundle I guess)? I don't want to be reliant on the Google Store for everything.
ReplyDeleteThis does look very cool; probably the best 'next generation' of gamebooks which focus more on the game element, rather than Tin Man's which are very much digital books. The Inkle guys have clearly put a lot of thought into adapting Sorcery 3; the map looks great and the time telescope is a wonderful idea. The mind boggles with what could be done with FL one day...
ReplyDeleteIt's not like the technology isn't all there, Mike, and has been for years. We just need to find the right developer.
DeleteI was thinking the very same point that MikeH, posted on, Dave. With all the discussion in a prior thread last week, specifically on FL7/Serpent King's Domain and new FL material in general, it seems to me that the future of interactive fiction will be through developers following the path blazed by Inkle. Here is to hoping you find that right developer!
ReplyDeleteNot to reopen that discussion, Jonathan, but the conclusion was surely that interactive storytelling has many futures: The Second Garden, Versu, 80 Days, Frankenstein, Assassin's Creed, Heavy Rain, The Walking Dead. I don't think an FL app would be a lot different from Might & Magic, though - and that was 25 years ago. So which direction is this future again? :-)
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